A city lawyer has moved to court challenging President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive barring all state corporations from hiring external lawyers without the Attorney General's consent.
John Mwariri wants a conservatory order issued stopping any further implementation of the presidential directive on delivery of state programmes and projects in the 2020-21 financial year dated July 17 2020.
“Ministries, state departments and state agencies shall not engage and contract external counsel without approval of the Attorney General,” the directive said.
The presidential order issued last year also directed state agencies that have sued each other to withdraw the cases within 11 days from the date the directive was issued.
The President also directed all state departments and agencies to terminate within 21 days engagements with all external advocates who had been contracted without the AG's approval.
The lawyer argued that state corporations will not have any legal avenue to recover monies from other state agencies.
Through lawyer John Khaminwa, Mwariri argues the order seeks to direct corporations as to how they should procure public goods and services.
“The directives seek to remove from the boards of management of the state corporations their ability to procure goods and services,” reads court documents.
Mwariri said the directive seeks to grant authority of procuring services to the Attorney General in total contradiction of part IX of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
“The responsibility in regards of procurement for state corporations falls to the accounting officer of the state corporation, which authority cannot be wrested away from that individual as intended by the directive,” he argued.
He says the directive is not based on any constitutional or statutory provision, arguing they are illegal as they attempt to undertake a parallel evaluation and appointment process, powers the AG does not have.
